MIAMI � For all of Tim Tebow’s imperfections, his wobbly passes, his chaotic scrambles, his brutish style, the game he plays more often than not seems to go his way.
That’s what happened, as the Tebow-led Broncos rallied for an 18-15 overtime victory against the Miami Dolphins.
The Broncos were down 15-0 with less than 3 minutes remaining in regulation here Sunday before a weirdly mixed, pro-Tebow, anti-Tebow crowd at Sun Life Stadium. Tebow threw two touchdown passes in the final 2:44 of regulation, then tied it by running in the 2-point conversion with 17 seconds remaining in regulation.
Matt Prater overcame two missed field goals in the first half to hammer through a 52-yarder in overtime to give the Broncos a 2-4 record � 1-0 with Tebow as the starter � while the hapless Dolphins fell to 0-6 while also moving up in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes.
“I’ve always been a believer,” said Broncos rookie linebacker Von Miller, who in his sixth NFL game registered his sixth sack. “He silenced all his critics.”
According to Elias Sports Bureau, no team since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 had ever been down as many as 15 points with less than 3 minutes remaining and won.
The Broncos were trailing 15-0 and showing no signs of offensive life when they got the ball at their own 20 with 5:23 remaining.
Tebow at that point was 4 of 14 for 40 yards while taking five sacks for 27 yards of losses.
If the NFL is a quarterback-driven league, the first three quarters here Sunday drove football back to the 1940s.
But Tebow threw two touchdown passes in the final 2:44 of regulation, then tied it by running in the 2-point conversion with 17 seconds remaining in regulation.
“When it gets crunch time, he trusts what he sees,” Dawkins said. “That’s what I see. He trusts things and he just lets it fly. Early on in the game, he was maybe second-guessing things. If he’ll let it go, he’ll do good things for us.
“But at the end of the day, he’s a guy who’s going to continue to fight, continue to scrap and use his arm, his legs or whatever to get the job done.”
In overtime, Broncos’ linebacker D.J. Williams strip-sacked Dolphins quarterback Matt Moore � who had his own struggles � and recovered the fumble. The Broncos had the ball at the Dolphins’ 36.
Broncos coach John Fox sat on it from there, as three running plays netted 2 yards. The 2 yards were plenty for Matt Prater. After missing field goals from 49 and 43 yards earlier in the game, Prater nailed this one from 52, setting a wild Broncos celebration in the middle of the Dolphins’ home field.
The Broncos improved to 2-4 � 1-0 with
Tebow as the starter � while the Dolphins fell to 0-6.
“We need to get it going faster, that’s for sure,” Tebow said of the Broncos slow start. “But the O-line stepped up. And we kept fighting until the end. That shows the heart and the courage of this team.”
When it comes to quarterback play, any chance Broncos fans can defer to the expertise of Fox and John Elway from now on?
The Broncos’ top football bosses would never say so, but they have every right to say: Told you so.
Tebow may eventually develop into a fine NFL quarterback.
But all Fox and Elway were trying to say through training camp, the preseason and first five games of the season is they will play Tebow when they feel he’s ready.
It should now be clear to all that it will be awhile before Tebow polishes his passing.
Tebow was 3 of 5 for 24 yards at halftime. Subtract the sack yardage and the Broncos had 6 yards passing. He was 0 for 3 in the third quarter with another sack, bring the team passing total to 2 yards.
He completed 1 of his first 6 passes in the fourth quarter.
A question not likely to be asked at Fox’s postgame press conference: Coach, how come you didn’t call more passing plays?
He did settle down late in the fourth quarter when the Dolphins were up 15-0. Working against a prevent defense, Tebow hit Matt Willis on a crossing pattern for a 42-yard gain. It turned out to be the biggest play of the game.
Tebow
Mike Klis tackles readers’ questions about the Denver Broncos and NFL.
scrambled on third down and hit Demaryius Thomas, who was playing in his first game of the season, in the corner of the end zone. The Broncos were on the board.
Then, Broncos’ safety Virgil Green recovered Matt Prater’s onside kick that first bounced off a Dolphins player. Tebow smelled victory. Bad as he played, there was something about Tebow that had everyone sensing he was going to win it.
A wobbly, helicopter-looking pass to Daniel Fells for a 28-yard gain to the Dolphins’ 3 yard line was pure Tebow � it may not have been pretty, but it got the job done. Tebow then lofted a misdirection screen pass to Fells, who walked in for the touchdown.
The 2-point conversion was the easiest play the Broncos had all day. Who’s a bigger threat than Tebow with the run-pass option? With the field spread, Tebow ran in easily and the game went to overtime.
Back in January at Elway’s introductory press conference as the Broncos’ new boss of football operations, the former quarterback great was asked his thoughts about Tebow.
“I will tell you this, as a man, as a football player � we all agree on one thing: Tim Tebow is a darn good football player,” Elway said. “What we have to make him is a darn good quarterback and that is what we have to figure out.”
That statement was then twisted and contorted by fans, bloggers and reporters that there was confusion about exactly what Elway felt about Tebow.
Clarity came Sunday. The way Tebow escaped a certain sack back at his own 5 yard line, then rumbled ahead to the 36 for an unlikely first down? That’s a football player.
But Tebow’s first pass that should have been a pick-6 if not for Miami linebacker Karlos Dansby’s bad hands, and the woeful misfires downfield? That was nowhere near the caliber of a darn good quarterback.
Against just about any other team, the Broncos would have been blown out. All that kept it close � it was 0-0 after the first quarter and 6-0 after three � was the fact the Dolphins were an 0-5 team coming in and their quarterback, Matt Moore, is not exactly the second coming of Dan Marino.
Moore had accumulated only 112 yards from his 25 pass attempts through the third quarter. He found a little groove in the fourth quarter, throwing a 16-yard touchdown pass to tight end Anthony Fasano that essentially iced the game � even though the score was 12-0 and there was all but six seconds of the fourth quarter remaining.
Mike Klis: mklis@denverpost.com or @MikeKlis on Twitter.
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